Soviet sources praise the Bolsheviks for simplifying Russian spelling in 1918. Who was the real author of the spelling reform, and what was the Bolsheviks' actual role in making it work?

In honor of International Translation Day (September 30), we demonstrate rather graphically the value of having a good, human translator.

A consideration of the language of enemies and whether Russia is, as Mitt Romney has averred, the US's chief geopolitical foe.

A recent trip to Greece got columnist Mikhail Ivanov thinking about that country's language and its incursions into Russia's mother tongue.

A consideration of less than politesse descriptions of the other sex - what men say about women and what women say about men, when they are each speaking to those of their own gender...

This issue's Uchites language learning section focuses on writer Sergei Dovlatov, who would have been 70 this month.

The 12th installment of our Uchites insert uses the 60th anniversary of Nazi Germany's invasion of Russia as its theme.

The 11th installment of Uchites takes off from the article in this issue on Cycling Across Russia, to examine things such as verbs of motion.

The ninth edition of our Uchites language insert, sponsored by Russkiy Mir Foundation, uses the Itinerants art movement to explore the language of art. A recording is also available online.

The eighth edition of our Uchites language insert, sponsored by Russkiy Mir Foundation, uses the life and poetry of poet Sergei Yesenin to explore word roots, verb aspects, word endings, the prefix/preposition "po", and more. Two recordings are also available online.

A survey of various online language learning tools which mesh vocabulary and grammar study with social networking.